Harry and Alex Potter - a story of twin brothers
by lunaxharry
Summary: When Harry James and Alexander Julius Potter escape the abusive household of the Dursley's, Albus Dumbledore decides to put them into the care of Severus Snape. WARNINGS: abuse/neglect/anorexia/eating disorder/spanking/bullying/swearing/corporal punishment/mxm pairings


**When Harry James and Alexander Julius Potter escape the abusive household of the Dursley's, Albus Dumbledore decides to put them into the care of Severus Snape.**

 **WARNINGS: abuse/neglect/eating disorder/spanking/bullying/swearing/corporal punishment**

It was a normal day, as normal as it could be. Nine year old's: Alex and Harry Potter woke up to the sound of Dudley stomping down the stairs; of course he was letting them know that their better cousin was coming down for breakfast, it was important that Dudley was served his breakfast every morning.

Alex was rescuing the bacon and sausages that were left on the heat by Harry, who rushed to the bathroom claiming he really needed to pee. Alex pulled up his trousers, for the hundredth time (they really were too big on him) and got to work. He didn't mind cooking, he could tell Harry didn't mind too as he preferred to do it more than Alex.

Dudley was sat at the table. He was being patient today, or, he was too busy watching his morning TV shows.

As Alex popped the bread into the toaster, heavy footsteps were heard along with whimpers coming down the stairs. Alex knew it was his Uncle Vernon. A shiver ran down his spine. He hoped Harry didn't put him in a bad mood already; it was only 8:48 am for crying out loud.

Uncle Vernon stomped into the kitchen, his hand firmly gripped onto the back of Harry's hair. Sitting down in his chair, he let go of his hair and kicked him to the floor.

"When I say you and Alex are to cook, I meant it. No breaks. I don't want either of you burning my food"

"Yes Uncle Vernon" Harry hurriedly scrambles up off the floor to get 3 plates out: one for Dudley, one for Vernon and one for Petunia.

5 minutes later, Aunt Petunia sat at the table and the food had been served. 20 minutes went by and the Dursley's had finished eating and Alex and Harry washed up everything.

It was Saturday, so that meant there were no school and no work. Dudley went straight to his room to play with his video games. He didn't go without punching one of the twins on the shoulder and laughing.

Harry and Alex were told they must clean today. "The house must be spotless" Aunt Petunia said before leaving to go to her book club.

The twins got to work. They did this everyday so it wasn't that hard of a task. They were used to it. They did the bathroom, kitchen, living room and garden. It took a total of 4 hours to complete, after they were exhausted. They didn't make lunch as Vernon had said he and Dudley were going out for lunch; so they retired to their cupboard under the stairs to have a little nap before anybody noticed. They squished together inside the small space and lay down.

2 hours later, Harry woke Alex up. Alex looked at his brother to see a handprint on the left side of his face. It looked raw. His eyes were glossy but they didn't fall. Alex gave him a sympathetic face then hugged his elder brother. They were 30 seconds apart; Harry was first then came out Alex. To say Harry was older, he sure did act younger next to his brother.

"What happened?" Alex asked caressing Harry's abused cheek.

"Aunt Petunia came home while you were sleeping. You didn't wake up when she shouted so I went to her and told her that we finished cleaning. She said it wasn't then smacked my face" Harry looks down.

"It's okay Harry. You and I both know she's wrong. C'mon, you have a little nap and I'll do the rest. Okay?" Harry nods his tired head and falls asleep. Alex goes to Aunt Petunia who tells him to redo the kitchen.

Alex finishes cleaning the kitchen. He brought the food to the cupboard that Petunia gave for them to eat.

"Wow. We actually get a sandwich each this time!" Harry exclaims and digs into the ham sandwich. Alex just smiles and eats his food.

Harry finishes his food very quickly and plays with the little solider that he found outside in the mud one time when he and Alex were gardening.

"I'm thirsty, I'm going to ask for water" Harry informs Alex and makes his way to Uncle Vernon who's eating ice cream in front of the Television.

"… Uncle- erm – Uncle Vernon, please can I have some water" He asks quietly. Vernon doesn't even look at Harry as his eyes are glued to the Television.

"U-Uncle Vernon…" he stutters a little louder.

Vernon's snaps his head and glares at the skinny boy. Harry lowers his and stares at his little pumps. He flinches as soon as his Uncle speaks.

"Can you not see that I'm watching something? Don't you think it's rather rude to interrupt me while I'm watching a good show? Eh? Answer me then!"

"I'm s-sorry" he apologizes.

"What do you want?"

"I-I just wanted to ask if I c-can have some w-water, p-please?" he asks shyly.

"Seriously boy, you interrupt me for water. Look I've missed the end of my show now, you've ruined my evening you stupid boy" he points at the TV in anger.

"I didn't mean to… I'm really sorry Unc-"Harry is cut off when Vernon's hand grips onto Harry's oversized t-shirt and is being pulled close to his Uncle. Vernon shakes Harry so violently that his glasses fall onto the floor.

Vernon brings Harrys little face up to his and bellows "YOU ARE A STUPID LITTLE BOY, A FUCKING FREAK! NO YOU CAN'T WATER YOU WORTHLESS FREAK. DON'T EVER INTERPUT MY SHOWS AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Vernon grips a hold of Harry's hair and yanks at it when Harry doesn't answer.

"YES, I UNDERSTAND" Harry squeaks. Vernon pushes the boy back, making Harry fall on to his glasses, snapping them in half.

"Oh look what you have done! You ungrateful brat! I bought you those purely from the goodness of my heart and look what you do, you break them. Now you're really in trouble"

Vernon stands up out the armchair and hovers over Harry. He unties his belt and slams it down on the buckle side, hitting Harry's tummy. Harry cries out in pain. He rolls so the buckle of the belt is hitting his back. One big hit hits his shoulder causing him to scream.

"STOP CRYING" Vernon goes faster hitting Harry all over. One particular hit digs right into his shoulder causing it to bleed through his shirt.

"STOP IT" Alex shouts, coming out from nowhere, and kicks his Uncle's legs as hard as he can. The kicks don't hurt Vernon but they do cause his anger to flare up even more

"HOW DARE YOU HIT ME!" he roars at Alex, but Alex doesn't flinch.

"I HATE YOU. I HATE THIS HOUSE. I HATE YOU SO MUCH. STOP HITTING MY BROTHER AND LEAVE US ALONE. WE BOTH HATE YOUR FAT GUTS" Alex screams at him. All his anger causes the furniture in the room to shake, almost like a small earthquake.

Vernon look's at the now broken TV on the floor then turns to punch Alex.

"GET IN YOUR CUPBOARD NOW, YOU FREAK. BOTH OF YOU" Vernon rushes out the room, scared of what just happened.

"Oh Harry" Alex kneels down to help Harry. He gently helps him stand up, picking up the broken glasses and takes him to the cupboard before Uncle Vernon decides to come back down.

"Ouch, my shoulder really hurts" Harry takes off the bloody t-shirt off. Alex gasps. Harry's shoulder looked really bad. He takes a deep breath and says "Don't you worry, Harry. Remember they will heal when you wake up, so get some sleep okay?"

"Okay… What about your eye, it's getting big" Harry carefully lays down, trying not to cause any more pain

"It will heal when I wake up. C'mon, let's get some sleep. It won't hurt" Alex lies down next to his brother; they cuddle up together and fall asleep.

7 and half hours later, Harry gently shakes his brother. "Alex… you awake?"

"What is it Harry?" Alex mumbles irritated from being woken up.

"Oh sorry… It's just… I don't hurt anymore. My shoulder has stopped bleeding"

"Oh great" Alex sits up to turn the small light on.

"What about you eye? Does it hurt? I can't really see so I don't know" Harry holds his broken glasses.

"It's healed"

They lay in silence for what felt like hours but were really 10 minutes.

Harry spoke up. "Why do Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treat us differently to Dudley?"

"I don't know Harry why don't you ask them yourself" Alex huffs out. Harry knew not to talk about this kind of stuff since it made Alex angry but he still did anyway.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that…" Harry begins to think "I wonder what it would be like to not live here. I wonder what it would be like to get away from this house and not ever have to come back… I bet it would be awesome"

"Yeah…" Alex agreed "Why don't we leave? I know where the key for the front door is. If we unlock it we can run away. RIGHT NOW" Alex whispers loudly.

"Are you serious!?" Harry is surprised his brother thought of that.

"Yes, I'm sick of it here. I don't wanna be stuck in this cupboard for the rest of my life, and neither do you" he continues.

Harry thinks over it for a few minutes then agrees "Let's do it"

Alex opens the cupboard door and walks to the kitchen to get the key hidden in a drawer. He also picks up some tape, remembering Harry's glasses and tapes them together. Harry thanks Alex and they both put on their shoes and jackets. Harry quietly tiptoes back to their cupboard to retrieve a torch and hurries to the front door where Alex is.

"I'm scared… I don't think we should leave what if they find us? We'll be in so much trouble" Alex chews his bottom lip worryingly. "Alex we can't stay here. You even said so yourself. We really need to leave. We can do this Alex. And I'm not leaving your side" Harry hugs his brother and Alex nods. They were actually leaving the Dursley's. Alex glances at the clock ticking on the wall. It read 3:50 am.

"Let's go" Alex unlocks the door then shuts it behind them quietly, leaving the key in the door. They run down the street as quickly and as quietly as they can until the house is no longer in view.

"Now where do we go?" Harry pants.

"I know, we'll head to the park and come up with a plan there"

"Good idea"

They both walk to the park hand in hand, mostly because they were scared being outside this late and this dark. Once they reached the park they both sat down on the roundabout and turned on the torch.

"So, what should we do? We can't stay in the park forever" Harry states. "I don't know" Alex replies honestly "I know" Harry spoke up. "We could walk to the woods and just live in the wild"

"Yeah that sounds like a great idea Harry. We'll have everything we need in the woods…"Alex's mutters, his mood dropping.

"It was an idea, calm down" Harry shines the torch on the ground and begins to make shadow animals with his hands.

"We should've planned everything before we left and brought food and water. How will we survive?" Alex sighs.

"What are you two little ones doing out here so late?" a familiar voice spoke from behind them. They both jump up and shine the torch on the person.

"Mrs Figg?" Harry stops shining the torch in her face.

"Yes sweetie it's me"

"What are you doing here?" Alex demands curiously.

"I was just… taking a walk you know, exercising" she lies.

"Oh…" they say in unison "I think you both need to return home now, you're Aunt and Uncle probably has no idea you're both not home. Come on now, I'll take you back, it's past 4am" she holds her hand out for them to take.

"No"

"Excuse me?"

"I said no" Alex looks like he was about to burst into tears any minute.

"Oh dear what's wrong, why do you say no?"

"They are mean to us. They hurt us. They really hurt Harry bad and I was so angry. Please don't make us go back, I'm begging you, please!" Mrs Figg stood there shocked. Were Vernon and Petunia treating poor Harry and Alex poorly?

"Come on, you can come to my house dears. Maybe gets some sleep then in the morning have breakfast then we'll think of what to do"

Harry and Alex agree to go back to her house. They all walk back to Privet Drive but this time they enter Mrs Figg's home. She shows them to a spare room with a double bed and tucks them in. "You promise we won't ever go back to the Dursley's ever again?" Harry asks as she's about to close the door.

"Yes dear I promise. Now get some sleep" While Alex and Harry sleep peacefully in a REAL bed, Mrs Figg goes downstairs to her fireplace to notify Dumbledore that she found the twins. She floo's Dumbledore and explains to him the twin's situation and how she would not allow them to go back there.

"They can't go back there Albus. They're just children, and they're hurting them. Can you believe that? How dare them, I'm so ashamed and of myself, how did I not notice how skinny they are, I've been blind Albus I'm so sorry for not noticing" she started to cry.

"Thank you for getting them to your house safely. And it's not your fault that those muggles couldn't care for their own nephews. They will NOT be going back Arabella; I can assure you of that. I'm just happy they are now in safety. I shall be paying those Dursley's a visit. Thank you Arabella I shall get back to you as soon as I can. Please take care of them for me while I sort some things out. Thank you"

"Okay Albus, I will defiantly be making sure they are fed well and their health is good. I will see you soon"

The next morning came. Mrs Figg woke the twins up at 10am. They must be exhausted she thought to herself as she ran them a bath and brought clean clothes for them to change into. She serves them both a big bowl of cereal which they devour into and pours them some fresh orange juice.

"You two must have been hungry. Would you like more cereal? Just help yourselves"

"Thank you" they both say and pour themselves a second bowl and glass. After breakfast Mrs Figg switched the TV on for the boys to watch cartoons while she cleaned the bowls.

"What's going to happen to us Mrs Figg?" asks Alex.

"Well, ive spoken to a very important person who is going to be sorting everything out for you two" Alex nods his head, he was happy that he wouldn't have to be going back to the Dursley's. Harry watched the cartoon curiously; the mouse was playing tricks on the cat that was trying to catch him. Interesting Harry thought as he had never watched cartoons before.

"Boys we will be expecting a visitor after lunch, so please come into the kitchen" Mrs Figg calls them from the kitchen.

They both sit at the table and eat their sandwiches and fruit slowly. They were still a little full from the cereal but they were grateful for being fed so all they said was "Thank you". An hour after they ate Mrs Figg explained that a rather large man was coming to take them to a school called Hogwarts to meet the headmaster. They didn't really question it though. 20 minutes later Hagrid came to the house.

"Hello Mrs Figg"

"Hello Hagrid"

"It's been a few years since ive seen you, how have you been?"

"Oh very well thank you, and you?"

"Not too bad thanks. So where are the little ones?"

"Oh they're in the living room" she let Hagrid into the house and he followed her to where Alex and Harry were.

"Boy's this is Hagrid" Both boys stood up to greet the man. When they saw him though they were amazed at how big he was.

"Woah you're like a giant" Harry exclaimed.

"That's because I am. I'm half actually"

"Cool" Alex said. Mrs Figg went to go get tea for everyone.

"I bet you two are excited about finally going to meet Dumbledore, a great wizard, absolutely great"

"Wizard?" they both asked confused

"Yes of course wizard, the greatest" Hagrid laughs.

"You're talking in fairy tales. Wizards aren't real" Alex spoke. They can't be.

"What? You don't know do you"

"Know what?" they both asked

"You're both wizards. How could you not know? I'm sure those horrible Dursley's must've told ye"

"No they didn't". Mrs Figg came in and handed a cup of tea to everyone.

"Mrs Figg… Harry and I are wizards apparently"

"Yes its true my dears. Both your parents were too. Tragic their deaths, terrible murder"

"Murder?" they both gasp.

"Hagrid, they're young please don't!" Mrs Figg whispered harshly.

"Oh sorry ma'am"

They all sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before Hagrid finally announced they were leaving.

"Thank you for the tea. We should be heading now thank you"

Mrs Figg gave them both a hug and goodbye. They got into Hagrid's mysterious bike and flew into the air all the way to Hogwarts. They walked all the way to the office in the amazing building they couldn't believe anything of this was happening. It was surreal.

All while that day happened for the twins, Dumbledore made the journey to the Dursley's. He knocked on their door and was met by a furious looking Vernon.

"What do you want old man"

"This isn't about me; this is about how you have been treating your nephews. I am appalled at how you treat them. You and your wife disgust me"

"Well, you shouldn't have left them with us then. We never wanted them in the first place. Now bog off, we don't want anything to do with your freaky things ever again" Vernon slammed the door on Albus. This isn't over he thought to himself. Next time he thought, next time.

He apparated back to Hogwarts and conjured a patronus to send to Severus Snape. Severus came to his office as soon as possible.

"What's wrong Albus?" Snape asks worryingly, sitting down on the chair across from Dumbledore. Something was defiantly wrong when Dumbledore sent him a patronus.

Albus leaned onto the desk eyeing the young professor in front of him.

"Severus… the Dursley's has been abusing Harry and Alex. As you already know their godfather is in Azkaban…"

Severus stares into his eyes trying to read his thoughts but Albus blocks him.

"And you're telling me this because?"

Albus takes a deep breath and blurts "Because you are the only one I can trust to protect them" Severus' eyes grew wide.

"I… I can't. Why do you think I can protect them?" his heart begins to race but he keeps himself composed.

"Do you need a moment?" Albus asks. Damn that old fool always knowing what's wrong with me. Severus thinks to himself, now blocking his thoughts from the old man.

I dare you to bring it up. I dare you.

"Because I know Lily would have wanted you to care for them. I know she would. They'll be coming to the castle to meet you today at around 3 so please stay so we can go over things"

I knew he would mention her! I knew it!

"You arranged this before I even agreed, why you-"

"Severus, am I ever wrong?"

"Yes" he spoke before he realised the words slipped from his mouth

"Oh Severus, you will be their guardian. You will love them as if they were your own. I'm even going to give you two years off of teaching with pay so you still have money to support them"

"You old fool! I- I can't look after them. I'm the bat of the dungeon, the potions master. I can't care for two orphans. I don't have the patience. Do I look like a parental figure? No"

"Severus of course you do. You are head of Slytherin. You care for all the students in your house; you must be doing a good job as nobody has complained. You and I both know what it's like to have gone through abuse; I helped you, didn't I? Now it's your turn to help the children of the woman you loved. You're not going to abandon them are you? Like how you're father abandoned you. They need someone like you Severus. The Dursley's beat them just like how your father did to you. If you won't take them… ill have no choice but to send them back. Imagine if I never gave you a chance Severus. What would your life be like right now? You don't want them being as fragile as you were when you first came to Hogwarts, like the time when-"

Severus froze as soon as Albus mentioned his father. How he put it all made his blood boil. If he doesn't take the twins, he'll send them back to those abusive monsters and it would all be Severus's fault. That's when he had enough, he hates being called fragile or small or weak, or the worst: a coward.

"You dare bring my childhood into this… And how dare you say that. I've had enough with you always manipulating me to get me to do something by bringing my past up" Severus snaps, slamming his hand onto the headmaster's desk in frustration.

Albus doesn't even flinch. "Now now, Severus. I'm not trying to manipulate you at all. I trust you Severus, and I know Lily-"

"Stop" Severus pleads, he's had enough. Albus just doesn't know when to stop.

"I guess you stopped loving her…"

Severus looked at him, tears threating to fall down his cheeks "I still love Lily, just because she's gone doesn't mean I haven't stopped loving her"

Dumbledore smiled to himself on the inside and stayed silent.

"Out of all the people, all the ones that don't have a job like mine… You pick me. You expect me to agree to everything. I said I'd do anything and I do what you say. I spy on the Dark Lord, I continue to work here at Hogwarts, I risk my life every day, I do everything and yet you still want more. I know I messed up badly but really… You want me to take in those Potter twins… James would be so pleased to see that his old enemy is caring for his children. I bet once they start warming up to me they'll become brats, they'll bully others once they find out their celebrity status. They will just like their father. Thinking they are the superior"

"Severus, I assure you they will be nothing like James. They are young. You will have power over them just like any other guardian. Severus all I can tell you is that they need someone like you"

Snape just sat there. His mind was full of memories of James bullying him and then the memories changed to how be father treated him. The thought of Lily only came into his mind. Lily.

"Lily would be so grateful" Albus adds quietly.

"Okay Albus" Snape finally makes his mind up, not that it made a difference.

"You'll promise to care for them as if they were your own"

"Yes" Severus nods. "I'm not doing it for you though. I'm doing it for Lily and the twins. No one else"

"Yes I understand" Albus gives a big smile his eye twinkling.

Dumbledore had won again.


End file.
